16 killed in Afghanistan helicopter crash
At least 16 civilians were killed yesterday when a helicopter crashed near a military base in southern Afghanistan, the Nato-led force said, in the second fatal chopper crash here in a week.
Earlier 35 militants were killed in Afghan commando raids on Taliban hideouts in southern Kandahar province on Sunday.
The civilian-contracted aircraft was not shot down by insurgents, the Nato-led International Security Assistance Force (Isaf) said, but gave no details on what caused the crash in war-torn Kandahar province.
"Isaf can confirm that 16 civilians have been killed in the helicopter that crashed earlier today (Sunday) in Kandahar province," the statement said.
"There are an additional five casualties whose condition is yet to be confirmed... Emergency personnel are still on the scene. No military personnel were amongst the casualties.
"There was no indication of the cause of the accident but insurgent action has been ruled out."
Isaf earlier said that the crash happened on take-off from Kandahar Airfield, part of the biggest US military base in southern Afghanistan.
It gave no details on the nationalities of the casualties or the contracting company, but Russian news agencies reported that the aircraft was an MI-8 helicopter belonging to Russian company Vertikal-1.
The helicopter carrying 17 passengers and three crew members crashed during take-off, the agencies said, citing the Russian Federal Air Transport Agency.
Last Tuesday, a civilian helicopter crashed in southern Helmand province while transporting contractors, killing six passengers and a child on the ground, Nato and local officials said.
Meanwhile, Afghan commandos backed by international troops and air power killed 35 militants in raids on Taliban hideouts in Afghanistan's southern province of Kandahar, the defence ministry said Sunday.
Several other insurgents were wounded in the raids Saturday in Shah Wali Kot district in the restive province, the ministry said in a statement.
"The National Army commandos having the support of the international forces and air force killed 35 enemies who had massed there to interrupt the people's lives," the statement said.
Thousands of newly-deployed US Marines, British forces and Afghan security troops have launched a series of major assaults on Taliban strongholds in southern Afghanistan.
The operations were unleashed at the beginning of this month in a bid to drive out Taliban insurgents to allow Afghans to vote in the nation's presidential elections set for August 20.
The Taliban are the main militant group behind an increasingly deadly insurgency which they launched shortly after their government was toppled in a US-led invasion in 2001.
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